Page 121 of Endless Terrors
But there was only the light now, and a high-pitched ringing sound. Then there was a soundless, blinding flash.
I was home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Returning to my body felt like being engulfed in flames.
It was the sort of pain that blocked out all reason or thought. I cried out helplessly, my eyes flying open. I couldn’t see through the haze of agony. Just when I was about to scream, pleading for someone to make it end, the excruciating, red-hot sensation faded. I blinked a few times, and suddenly I could see again. I caught a glimpse of my bedroom and the slanted ceiling just before my stomach lurched.
Gagging, I turned onto my side and vomited all over the floor.
“Thank God,” a familiar voice breathed. Gentle hands held my hair back. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
I moaned, slowly reaching up to wipe my mouth with the back of my sleeve. Collith didn’t move. I sat up, and the room tipped. I grabbed onto the edge of the mattress and focused on Collith, who was sitting beside me on the bed. “Emma. Where’s Emma?”
As I swayed, his hands flew out to catch me, and his fingers curved around my waist. Even through my T-shirt they were a welcome coolness, and my eyes fluttered shut. “You have a fever. You should get some rest,” Collith murmured.
I forced my eyes back open and caught hold of his hand. “I’ll get some rest later. Where is she, Collith?”
His mouth tightened. “At the hospital.”
“Is she—”
“She’s alive.”
A small sound slipped out of me, something halfway between an exhale and a sob. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how scared I’d been. No, not scared … I’d been fucking terrified.
Another sound burst out of me, louder this time, and I covered my mouth. Without a word, Collith leaned over and picked me up. He set me on his lap and wrapped an arm around my waist. His other hand cupped the back of my head. When I didn’t try to fight him, it was as though a hundred pounds slid off his shoulders. Collith rested his chin against my head and held me as I cried. But after a few seconds, it started to feel like I wasn’t just crying about Emma. I didn’t even know what I was crying about, really. Now that I’d started, I couldn’t seem to stop.
Then Collith’s cell phone rang into the silence. Hearing it jarred me, and reality sank in like a spell had been broken. My tears dried as my mind began to race. The others. My pack. They’d been keeping me alive all this time. Were they all right?
While Collith silenced his call, I touched the bonds with my mind. They glowed like Christmas lights. Beautiful, bright Christmas lights. In an instant I felt their essences, every single one of them. Finn. Gil. Seth. Cyrus. Ariel. Nym. I felt their love, their worry, their secret pain. Then I sensed their simultaneous surprise as my Court realized I was there, in their heads, alive and conscious.
The rush of joy was like all my happiest memories rolled into one moment. It was so overwhelming I could only manage to say back, I can’t wait to see you. Yes, I’m okay. I’m okay.
That was the moment it started to sink in. I was back. I was home. All the tension left my body, and I practically sagged against Collith, holding onto him as though he was all that kept me upright.
“Will you take me to her?” I whispered against his chest.
Collith hesitated—he probably wanted me to rest, or at least wait until morning—but only for a moment. I felt him nod. “Of course.”
Later, I wouldn’t remember the drive to the hospital. But I’d remember Collith helping me down the stairs, my body weakened from the spell. It was the same weakness I’d experienced when I’d first got to Hell. I’d remember him putting me in the passenger seat and getting behind the wheel, cranking the heat to the highest setting. It was only then I realized that I was shivering. I’d remember the edges of my vision going hazy, and then … nothing.
The next thing I knew, the name of the hospital loomed over us in glowing letters.
Collith had obviously been here before, because he led the way without hesitation. There was a human sitting at the front desk, but he walked right past her. I steeled myself for her to stop us, say something about visiting hours, but her eyes moved over me as if I weren’t there. Collith must’ve been using the powers he’d taken from Laurie.
For the first time since I’d learned the truth about Collith’s abilities, thinking about it didn’t hurt. Instead, I just leaned into him and allowed him to steer me into an elevator.
Emma’s room was on the third floor.
Collith stopped outside the doorway. He reached up and skimmed my bottom lip with his thumb. “I’ll be right back. You should be nourishing your body right now, so I thought we’d start with some water.”
I just nodded, my mind on the person lying a few feet away. Collith pulled back slowly, then turned and left, his long shadow stretching across the tiled floor. I watched him for a moment, wondering if he would call Laurie. As far as I knew, the Seelie King didn’t know I was back.
And you’re stalling, that inner voice of mine said.
Emma was alone when I went in, a small figure in the hospital bed. There was an empty chair next to her, and it reminded me too much of the chair that had been in Damon’s bedroom. Another clang of pain went through me, and I put my hand on the armrest as I stared at Emma. Would our family ever be together again? It seemed that whenever one of us woke up, another one fell.
